Gross motor disorders in pediatric patients with acute lymphoblastic leukemia and survivors: A systematic review

Abstract

Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia (ALL) is the most common cancer in children and toxicities related to treatment are common. One of these adverse effects is related to the musculoskeletal system and especially to gross motor skills that allow body movements: walking, running, jumping, and balance. This systematic review aims to describe gross motor impairments in pediatric patients with ALL during and after chemotherapeutic treatment and to identify the most commonly used tools for their assessment. Multiple electronic databases were searched for observational studies describing gross motor skills in children with ALL and the assessment tool used. The STROBE checklist was used to assess the reporting quality of each study. Ten studies were included in this review with assessments of gross motor skills in children with ALL undergoing treatment and survivors. Evidence suggests impairments in the performance of daily life activities during intensification and maintenance and persists up to 5 to 6 years after treatment´s cessation. Balance problems are noted at the start of treatment when the cumulative dose of vincristine is low and, in the survivors, it was the most reported alteration. These skills are essential for an adequate performance of children in daily life activities, recreation and leisure. We emphasize the need to assess gross motor skills and implement interventions that include physiotherapy and occupational rehabilitation in children with ALL.

Keywords:

• acute lymphoblastic leukemia
• adverse effects
• gross motor skills
• motor performance
• survivors

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Funding

The author(s) reported there is no funding associated with the work featured in this article.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Juliette Marie Brito-Suárez

Conceiving, designing, and coordinating the review: CGC.; designing the protocol, search strategies, and undertaking searches: JMS, FC, CGC; screening search results and retrieved papers against inclusion criteria: JMS, FC, CGC.; appraising the quality of papers: JMS, FC, CGC.; extracting data from papers: JMS, FC, CGC; writing the review: JMS, CGC, GHP, CSM.